debt threat.the nation's economic future -hangs in the balance with just days to go before a possible government shutdown. in today's cover story...apple's latest strategy to get smartphone users to go for upgrade. plus.... how to turn your tech trash into a payday.and....blackberry's stock takes a turn for the worse as trader's question the company's survival first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas good morning! it's monday, september 23rd. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: wall street and washington. the financial world is on edge as

lawmakers stand their ground on raising the debt ceiling. worries over what a government shutdown could mean for the federal reserve's taper timetable... is seeping into stocks..friday the dow fell 186 points...the nasdaq 14 and the s&p 12.the selling spree also hit gold and oil. president obama and the presdient of iran could meet up for a critical talk this week at the un meeting in new york. jcpenney reportedly considers several options to raise quick cash -- as the retailer faces questions about its future. and grand theft auto five sales zoomed past the $1 billion dollar mark. tim mulholland of china america capital joins us now on this monday morning. good morning to you. > >good morning. > >i'm wondering what we're in for especially with that big selloff that happened late friday. > >the is the expiration---the quadruple witching expiration

which happens every quarter. so it was kind of a big one. i think that caused a little volatility but let's face it-- we did have a big week last week with the mid week decision by the fed to continue the current pace of purchases of treasuries and mortgage backs so i think that set off a little bout of volatility which we're probably going to be looking forward to in the next couple of weeks. > >it also seemed as though investors were paying really close attention to what some of the fed heads had to say on friday. how much will that play into trading this week? > >i think firstly when the fed came out, nobody was looking for the fed to hold steady. everybody expected some taper, so that was a big surprise when they didn't. so, st. louis fed president bullard was interviewed and said it was a very close decision. okay that's fine...but that the fed can still do it at any time...it's all data dependent. what that means is that they really added an air of uncertainty into a market that i

don't think they needed to do--- didn't have to do. so, now we're gonna be so data sensitive going forward. basically the market is looking to perhaps december as the new target date for this tapering to begin. but it's really gonna be dependent on the economy and also this fiasco we've got in washington again. > >thank you tim. it's a shutdown showdown on capitol hill. the senate returns from recess tomorrow, and is expected to vote on a short- term spending bill. friday -- the gop-controlled house passed a measure which would keep the government running through december 15th, but eliminates funding for health care reform. there's also friction on the hill--over food stamps. the house passed a bill last week, cutting $39 -billion dollars from the federal program. neither bill is expected to pass the senate. while touring a ford motor plant in missouri friday-- president obama told a crowd-- said congress is focussed on the wrong issues. "unfortunately, right now the -- the debate that's going on in congress is not meeting the test of helping middle-class

families. it's just -- they're not focused on you. they're focused on politics. they're focused on trying to mess with me.. last week-- the federal reserve noted downside risk to the economy based on federal fiscal policy. its now just about week before obamacare officially kicks off. starting october 1st the new marketplace exchanges will be open to american's shopping for health insurance. ahead of the historic event president obama and former president bill clinton will talk up the benefits of health care reform-- at the clinton global initiative conference this week in new york. the president is expected to speak tomorrow. the whitehouse is calling it a ramped up public education effort to reach american's who want to sign up for affordable health care options. among the challenges that remains getting republicans on board. members of the obama administration will drop in on detroit this week. the motor city is reeling from the largest case of bankruptcy in u.s. history. a meeting between

the president's economic staff and michigan' governor rick snyder is expected, friday. the obama administration has reportedly told officials in detroit that federal resources may be available to motown. a total bailout however, is not likely. the next bankruptcy hearing is october 23rd. consumers are losing an appetite for olive garden and red lobster. darden which own both chains reported a sharp drop in profits from its restaurants last quarter. the company blamed cautious consumer spending. darden has named gene lee has it's new president and ceo. going forward the restaurant chain wans to cut spending by $50 million a year. it includes more job cuts-- but not at the restaurant level. the only thing more popular than the just-released iphone 5-s, is the same phone in gold. demand for the gold-colored metal case is highest in asia, where apple has reportedly asked suppliers to pick up the pace. in our cover story, how apple hopes to regain its midas touch. three hours after apple's store in downtown chicago opened, the

line for new i-phones still took an hour and a half. most of the buyers, leapfrogging from phones two-years-old and older. "needed an upgrade. i had the 4s. it's getting slow." "the way you interact with it, the menus are more intuitive." these are the buyers, apple is counting on between now and year's end. two years ago, apple sold 37- million apple 4-s in its initial launch and fourth quarter. last year, the apple sold 47-million i-phone 5's in the same period. this year, analysts say the target is about 50-to-55 million, from the 37- million who bought 4s's, and new customers including a push to sell more in asia. "i think this one is an even more important launch for apple because its stock took a dip and people want to see if they can once again, create innovative products, and so far, it seems like they've done

that." the new processor is said to make the new iphone 40x faster, with bigger pixels in its camera, not more of them. and enhanced security. "it has a better security feature i care about security." in asia, gold-colored metal iphones sold out. fewer people told us they were buying the cheaper variation 5c. analysts say apple is still aiming at the high-end user willing to pay a lot for a phone that seems to be made of gold. "i bought the 64 gig. it cost me $399." morningstar analysts believe apple stock is undervalued. in a three-year forecast, it puts apple's fair value at 600- dollars. linkedin is sued for hacking. several linkedin user allege the company hacked into their email accounts and copied contact information that was used to try and gain more users. in a statement, linkedin said it believes the legal claims are

without merit and says it plans to fight the suit. yelp is continuing its crackdown on what it considers "fake posts" designed to over-inflate the performance of a business or counter negative comments from customers. the online word-of-mouth site is suing a san diego law firm, accusing it of using employees to write favorable reviews as if they were clients. "i think doing that is a good thing. among the 15-to-30 age group, people rely on these reviews on everything. and they have to maintain their integrity." according to the lawsuit, four glowing reviews posted within one hour were traced to a computer within the law firm. the firm says the suit has no merit and accuses yelp of unfairly favoring businesses that advertise on the site. yelp told first business that it does not punish those who do not advertise with it. new charges are coming from the sec. a former akami technology executive faces charges for his role in tipping off raj rajaratnam in an insider

trading scandal. rajaratnam ran a hedgefund and is currently serving 11 for years for insider trading. also, the sec is suing a new york investment advisor--for illegal trades ahead of the pfizer's plans to buy king pharmaceuticals. the deal to sell the largest pork producer in the u.s. to a chinese company will get a vote this week from shareholders. and, there's not likely to be much opposition. reports say new york investment firm starboard value-- is finding it challenging to find an alternative proposal to the offer on the table and will no longer oppose the deal. shareholders are expected to vote tomorrow on shuanghui's $4.7 billion bid to takeover smithfield foods. it's been a rocky year for the cruise industry. joining us now is jeanenne tornatore to give us a look at some cruise concerns. good morning jeanenne. > >good morning. > >how do you think the industry is doing after all the problems it's faced especially with carnival cruise. > >it's certainly been a high profile year for the cruise industry but what we're seeing

is that cruising is as popular as ever. we didn't see any major concerns as far as bookings for cruise lines and right now even with it being the offseason for cruises because it is hurricane season, we're still seeing that cruise ships are having robust bookings and are very popular. i think overall we haven't seen any major issues in terms of effecting the industry overall. > >carnival came out with a new agreement to give passengers refunds. how will that change the industry? > >travel insurance has been around for a long time overall in the travel industry and it's just something that people have to decide whether they want to take advantage of and if that's a game changer for that particular cruise line----i don't know. it's really hard to say at this point given it's something that just came out whether it's going to be a big game changer in how people make their travel decisions. > >what's the best time to book a trip on a cruise? > >well, right now is the off- season for cruising. that is because it's hurricane season, however, it's the cheapest time of year to take a cruise. it's 55% cheaper right now to cruise in the fall versus cruises in high season which is january, february, and that holiday period. if you're looking for a cruise bargain, you want to look at the fall season. you have to contend with possible hurricanes and possible tropical storms in the caribbean but for bargain travelers, this is the

time to go. > >thank you for that update jeanenne. > >my pleasure. it's a dazzling debut for new ipos fire eye and rocket fuel. cybersecurity firm fire eye more than doubled its debut price and soared 105 percent at the open. while rocket fuel shot up 90 percent. fire eye shares closed near highs at $15.43 and rocket fuel at $56.10. coming up this week -- violin memory is expected to raise $180 million. the company - which makes high- speed storage systems - is backed by toshiba corp. as of today-- startup companies can blog, tweet or take out ads for funding. it's part of the jobs act which was passed last year. and lifts an earlier sec ban on making general solcitations for money.the only catch is startups can only accept money from accredited investors who will have to prove they meet criteria such as net worth of a $1 million dollars. fans can now own a piece of breaking bad. the emmy winning show concludes on sunday. to celebrate, screenbid-dot-com will auction off props from the

show about a teacher turned meth dealer. fans can now bid on the shows infamous items like hazmat suits. the starting bid? 15-hundred dollars. still to come: inside the blackberry meltdown. is the stock a buy now that it's trading belowing $9 dollars.. plus... reduce, reuse and recycle. how to get fast cash for old electronic devices. and....a look at the next generation of gadgets rolling onto the market this week-- as tech companies attempt to take on apple. stay with us.

a new week, a new generation of tech products. microsoft is expected to introduce its new surface tablet at an event today. reportedly, the surface pro 2 boasts more battery life, and new accessories. microsoft recently cut prices of the surface pro due to poor sales. and blackberry has high hopes for its latest z-30 smartphone.the larger and faster phone is being released this week, but doesn't go on sale in the u.s. until the holiday season. the pace of new products rolling out is picking up. but what do you do with your old electronics? ky sisson tell us how growing gadget garbage is creating a $500 million dollar business boom. though it may seem like déjà vu all over again, another new i-

phone debuted last week. and as sales for these high-end smartphones show slowing numbers, apple launched their in-store trade-in program to encourage customers to upgrade to the latest premium i-phone. the growing industry of cell phone recycling is still relatively small, but experts say but it is expanding at a rapid rate. according to a recent study by bernstein research, the used smartphone market is projected to grow from 53 million units this year to 257 million units by 2018. elegreen dot com entered the competitve cell phone recycling market just a year ago and has seen this booming industry take off "in our first year, we managed to make 3.6 million dollars." elegreen general manager mike reffel says they recieve an average 100 smart phones a day. after intense inspection, repair, and data removal of the phones, elegreen sends them to their stores in china - a market where customers must pay list price for new phones since local carriers there don't subsidize the cost as they do in the u.s. chinese customers can buy elegreen's recycled versions

at a substantial discount off the new phone price, and elegreen still makes a considerable markup. "because we are selling them directly, we have a little bit more to gain and can offer more to our customers." raffel says that the apple brand popularity keeps the value of all apple products high, but there are also small amounts of gold, copper, silver, and platinum inside the phone worth the cost of extracting. so even when your broken iphone, like this one, may seem worthless to you, there is inherent value to trade-in sites and to programs like the ecoatm, a self-serve kiosk that will evaluate your phone and purchase it right on the spot. this technology has been extremely successful, boasting over one-million trade-ins in over 650 locations nationwide. lance gonzalez used the eco atm to trade in his iphone 3gs from 2009, and was given much more than he expected. you get fast cash for your

phone, i got $31 for my old iphone. reporting for first business news, i'm ky sisson. and, it's suggested to get top dollar when selling used electronics-- research the company's history and comparison shop. still to come....why it's still tough for the ladies to climb the corporate ladder....and how to reach for help if you want to be a woman on the rise. .... plus, trader talk on blackberry's early earnings drop....in chart talk. we'll be right back.

th a deadly disease. i was one of them. i'm a nurse and i knew how damaging the disease was to my life. nothing i tried seemed to work. my brother died. from complications of the exact same preventable disease and i knew i had to do something to get healthy. my disease was obesity and after consulting with my doctor, i received the effective treatment i needed. obesity is a second leading cause of preventable death in the united states. but it's a treatable disease, and there's effective treatment options available. now is time to get help.

please join the obesity action coalition and acknowledge obesity as a disease for acceptance, for access to all effective treatments, including diet and exercise, pharmacotherapy and weight-loss surgery for obese adults with at least one obesity related comorbid condition. visit obesity action dot org and sign an open letter pledging your support and for more information about how to talk to your doctor about your weight and your treatment options. together we can make a choice to end obesity now. a public service from the obesity action coalition. the number of ladies serving as ceo's of fortune 500 companies jumped 4% this year...to a grand total of 22 out of hundreds of men. joining us now is emilia dimenco--- president and ceo of the women's business development group. great to have you here. > >wonderful to be here. > >why does this lack of women at the top persist? > >you've heard of affinity groups? people like to be with people like them. the people in

power today are principally male and they're caucasian males. and until we look at really what the requirements of the job are and really search for the skillset we're going to have this persistent problem. > >so it makes it hard for women to shatter that glass. > >yes it does. we've heard that before. > >here are some stats we found...we learned that there are nearly 100 million established women owned businesses. now that sounds great but a report alsosays that 35% of startup companies right now are by women and women tend to have less confidence in running a company. do you agree with any of that? > >absolutely not. and this is the reason why...over my career, i have worked with thousands of both men and women as colleagues. they've been my superiors. they've been my subordinates...and i've worked with thousands of business owners. i can tell you that they're all human and they all share the same fears and have

the same challenges. i have held the hand of lots of men who've lost their jobs, lost their companies and dealt with very very serious personal challenges. what happens in that process is if they trust you, they tell you because they can't go home to their friends, to their families and share those vulnerabilities. > >but a woman might. > >women are known to share their feelings more freely and not be afraid to do that. > >how do you become a lady at the top? how do you become the boss? > >well, you have to be capable. you have to work hard. in addition to all of that, you really have to listen to those around you. you have to surround yourself with people that have skills that you don't have. you ultimately have to make the decision. you have to set the right culture and you have to have to be very outcome oriented. > >and just likeable. > >yeah, you gotta be likeable too. > >well, you can find out more about how to become the boss at the big conference coming up---

it happens to be one of my favorites. it's the 27th annual entrepreneurial women's conference happening here in chicago on thursday. you can find information at wbdc dot org. and what i love about this event is you have money lenders right on site for entrepreneurs. > >it's our annual conference and it's all about access. access to information, access to contacts, access to contracts, and access to capital. we have a business and buyers mart. and there is 200 corporations and governmnet entities there. they are there because they want to do business with women business owners. so people should go and talk to those companies. it's a lot easier than making a lot of cold calls. > >and it's all under one roof. thanks for coming on our show today. > >thank you very much for having me. just ahead --blackberry surprised wall street by revealing it's earnings a week early--find what caused the stock to drop like a rock--- next in chart talk.

andrew keene, president of keeneonthemarket dot com joins us now and adrew with that barrage of selling of blackberry late friday, what are we in store for with that stock today? > >a lot of the move has been already taken out. we looked at the at the money straddle calls and puts on the 10 strike. implying a $1.35 move for next week on friday and move that $1.35. sold off really hard. they announced basically everything's awful. they're laying off 4500 people. they

were gonna lose a lot of money last year. they're losing a lot of money this year. i think this handset could actually become insolvent at some point in time. > >do you think that this stock is a buy though, when it's below 9 or 8 dollars? > >i'll be like a dollar bid for 10 thousand shares. so, no i don't think it's a buy. they put themselves up for sale and it doesn't seem like there's any suitors out there. this chart looks awful from the top left to the bottom right. it seems like the company's going out of business. with the new apple iphone coming out, that's gonna take away market share from blackberry as well. a lot of people are getting the cheaper priced phone which is where blackberry dominated for so long. nokia as well. they're taking a lot of share away from blackberry. i would look to get short on any rallies. i don't want to buy this stock at all. > >enough said. thank you andrew for your strong thoughts today. > >thank you. that's it for now. coming up on the tuesday show...tech companies that can't find workers and why. from all of us at first business... we hope you are off to a great week ahead.

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